Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico

Oil continued to float across the Gulf of Mexico around the Mississippi
River Delta in early July 2010, three months after a deadly explosion at an
offshore drilling rig. This photo-like image of the region was captured by
the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra
satellite on July 9.

The sunglint region of the image—the washed-out area where the Sun’s
reflection would appear if the water were as calm and smooth as a mirror—is
located in the left-hand side of the view. Oil located very close to the
spot where the Sun’s reflection would have appeared in this image looks very
bright.

Beyond the area where the Sun’s reflection would have appeared, however, oil
may make the water surface look unusually dark rather than bright. The dark
arc in the water east of Timbalier Bay may also be oil; it is consistent
with oil locations identified with radar images of the area captured on July
8.